Energy policy and standard for built environment in China

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2005.01.013

Renewable Energy

Volume 30, Issue 13, October 2005, Pages 1973-1988

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2005.01.013 Get rights and content

Abstract

Trends in China's energy future will have considerable consequences for both China and the global environment. Though China's carbon emissions are low on a per capita basis, China is already ranked the world's second largest producer of carbon, behind only America. China's buildings sector currently accounts for 23% of China's total energy use and is projected to increase to one-third by 2010. Energy policy plays an important role in China's sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to provide a broad overview of energy efficiency issues in the built environment in China. This paper, firstly briefly, reviews the key national policies related to the built environment and demonstrates the government's environmental concern. Secondly, the authors introduce recent energy policies in the built environment. Energy efficiency and renewable energy in the built environment, which are the key issues of the national energy policy, have been reviewed. Discussion of the implementation of energy policy has been carried out.

Introduction

China has had double-digit rates of economic growth for much of the past two decades. This growth has had huge implications for energy consumption and environmental impact [15]. One of the environmental problems associated with energy consumption is carbon emissions. Though, China's carbon emissions are low on a per capita basis, China is already ranked the world's second largest producer of carbon emission, behind only America [18], [19]. It is reported that 75 percent of China's pollution is due to the burning of Coal as a source of primary energy and this accounts for the dominant share of China's total consumption. Though this share has declined recently, it is still too high relative to other countries [25].

China's building sector currently accounts for 23% of China's total energy use and is projected to increase to one-third by 2010 [26]. Energy consumption in the residential sector grew by 16 percent annually on the average from 1980 to 1994 (UNDP, 1997) [15], [11]. The level of energy efficiency in buildings, particularly in residential housing stock remains low [6]. Energy efficiency in the residential and transport sectors becomes more important with each passing year.

In this paper, we firstly briefly introduce China's general energy policy. Then the authors focus on the issue of energy efficiency in the built environment. This includes information for building energy consumption, existing standards, implementation and the existing situation. Finally the authors draw conclusions and present discussions.

Section snippets

Environment and energy conservation policies

The energy sector in China has changed significantly over the last two decades and energy supply can now basically meet the requirements of socio-economic development. However, further development of the energy sector faces a series of challenges. The Chinese government is strengthening the legal, administrative and institutional framework to ensure sustainable energy development. Key to the success of these efforts is the development of appropriate national plans and strategies. Environmental

China's Agenda 21

After the UN summit conference on Global Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, China developed a quick response towards implementing a sustainable development strategy. They issued the ‘Agenda of the 21st century’, a White Paper on China's Population, Environment and Development in the Twenty First Century. It is a sustainable development strategy for the 21st century of China. Agenda 21 combines several specific measures into a national strategy of sustainable development.

Energy conservation law

China's Energy Conservation Law—Presidential Act of the People's Republic of China No. 90 (ECL) was approved on 1st November 1997 and came into force on 1st January 1998. The law aims to promote energy conservation activities throughout society, to improve energy efficiency and increase economic benefit thereof, to protect the environment, to ensure economic and social development, and to meet the needs of people's livelihoods. The ECL stated the government's role in the following aspects: (1)

Tenth Five-Year Plan

The 10th Five-Year Plan (2001–2005) for Energy Conservation and Resources Comprehensive Utilization has been formulated in order to thoroughly implement and carry out the spirit of the 15th Central Committee and the Fifth Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Outline of the 10th Five-Year Plan of the People's Republic of China for the National Economy and Social Development. It aims to encourage to conserve energy, reduce consumption and use

Cleaner production promotion law

This law was approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China in the 28th Session on June 29, 2002. It is enacted in order to promote cleaner production, increase the efficiency of the utilization rate of resources, reduce and avoid the generation of pollutants, protect and improve environments, ensure the health of human beings and promote the sustainable development of the economy and society. In this law, the local people's

Characteristics of building energy consumption in China

Building construction is the third largest player in the Chinese economy. The decade 2000–2010 is expected to include a residential construction boom in China. Fig. 1 shows the trend for building construction [4]. Building energy consumption accounts for about 27.6% of total energy in 2001. It is projected the energy consumption in buildings will increase up to 35% in 2020. Fig. 2 shows building energy consumption in China. As part of building energy consumption, heating and air conditioning

Energy conservation policy in buildings

Energy efficiency design issues have been taken into account since the 1960s in China. In response to the growing concerns about energy conservation and its implications for the environment, the government decided to introduce legislative control of building envelope design. Building energy efficiency standards and regulations are policy measures which can help overcome some significant market barriers and ensure cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities are incorporated into new

Activities in implementation policy

According to a government survey, only 5.7% of building design implemented the Standard. Until 2001, constructed the area is 370 thousand million square meters, 110 thousand million square meters is in the urban area. Only 2.3 thousand million square meters match the standard requirement, which account for 2.1% of the urban area. The government encourages implementation of energy policy in built environment via various measures [26].

Discussion and conclusion

There is great potential to reduce building energy consumption in China. It is good to see that the Chinese government has already paid more attention to building energy conservation. National energy and environment policies have addressed the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the built environment. Following on the national policies, a series of building energy standards have been formulised since 1986. The building energy conservation program started since then for the

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge funding from the British Council and UK FCO Global Opportunities Fund (GOF). The authors thank Samantha Lawton for the administrative support provided.

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